Four Navy – Two U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on Sunday. All four crew members ejected safely and were evaluated by medical personnel as the crash remains under investigation.
BOISE, Idaho — All four crew members ejected safely after two U.S. Navy jets collided and crashed during an air show Sunday at Mountain Home Air Force Base in western Idaho, officials said.
The collision involved two EA18-G Growlers from the Electronic Attack Squadron 129 in Whidbey Island, Washington. The aircraft were performing an aerial demonstration when the crash happened, Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a statement.
Umayam said the four crew members from both jets safely ejected and were being evaluated by medical personnel. She added that the crash was under investigation.
On base grounds, Kim Sykes, marketing director with Silver Wings of Idaho, which helped plan the air show, said nobody at the military base was hurt. “Everyone is safe and I think that’s the most important thing,” Sykes said.
The base said in a social media post that it was locked down following the incident.
Witness videos posted online by spectators showed parachutes opening in the sky as the aircraft fell near the base about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Boise.. Shane Ogden said he was filming the two jets when they came close together; a video he captured showed the two aircraft appear to make contact. then spin in tandem as the crew members ejected and their parachutes opened.. Ogden said the planes then fell together, exploding into a fireball upon impact as the crew members dropped nearby.. “I was just filming thinking they were going to split apart and that happened and I filmed the rest. ” Ogden said in a text message.. He said he left soon after the crash because he did not want to get in the way of emergency responders.
The organizers described the air show, which included flying demonstrations and parachute jumps, as a celebration of aviation history and a look at modern military capabilities. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron headlined the show both days.
Weather at the time featured good visibility and winds gusting up to 29 mph (47 kph), according to the National Weather Service.
This year’s Gunfighter Skies event marked the first time the base hosted the air show since 2018. when a hang glider died in a crash during an air show performance.. In 2003. a Thunderbirds aircraft crashed while attempting a maneuver; the pilot was not hurt and was able to steer the plane away from the crowd. ejecting less than a second before it hit the ground.
The air show industry has been working to improve safety for years, with roughly 200 events held each year in the U.S. The last fatal crash at an air show came in 2022, when two vintage military planes collided at an event in Dallas and killed six people.
John Cudahy. president and CEO of the International Council of Air Shows. said there used to be an average of about two deaths a year at a U.S.. air show.. Over the past decade, he said, the average has been closer to one death per year.. He said there were no air show deaths in 2025 or 2024. and that a spectator hasn’t been killed at an air show since 1952.. “Safety wise we’ve enjoyed really an unprecedented term of few accidents,” Cudahy said.
The sequence of details on Sunday ties the emergency response to the demonstration itself: the jets were performing an aerial demonstration when the crash happened. the four crew members ejected and were evaluated by medical personnel. and the base was locked down as spectators described parachutes opening and a fireball upon impact.
Idaho air show Mountain Home Air Force Base EA18-G Growler Electronic Attack Squadron 129 U.S. Navy jets FAA Thunderbirds safety